03/04/2017 DAB Transcript

Today is March 4th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian.
It’s great to be here with you, and it’s a special day. It’s really just for me, but today is my
birthday and a long, long time ago I decided to stop adding up the numbers every
year that are more and more discouraging and start celebrating by Daily Audio
Bible years. So today is my 12th
birthday, which reminds me of how faithful God has been and how many days and
weeks and months we’ve been in this together, reading the Bible fresh every
day. So that, reading the Bible fresh
every day, is why we have come here today.
So as we end another of our weeks together, we’ve been reading from the
Names of God Bible this week, which is a nice change of pace because it gives
us the original language names whenever God is referred to, so that is
fun. That is what we’ll read from today
and then we’ll move to something else tomorrow.
Numbers chapter 2, verse 1 through 3:51 today.

Commentary

You can see in the book of
Numbers that we’re running into a lot of numbers, but we can also see that
things have shifted from the book of Leviticus.
Where the law was being given in the book of Exodus or the law was being
outlined, we can see that things have shifted.
We can see that now from nothing we have a tabernacle, we have all of
the things that serve the tabernacle. We
have the tabernacle in the center of the camp, so this is a visual
representation of how things are to be set up in this new culture – God in the
middle of it all, communicating outward to everyone.

And then today, after this census
was taken and all for the numbers have been counted, they have been
arranged. This is how the camp will
camp. This is how we will move. This is important because there are a lot of
people. So now we know who is ready for
battle if battle is necessary. And we
also have marching orders. This is how
they will move out. This is the order in
which they will move out. This is who is
going to be on the north side, the west side, the south side, the east
side. This is how this is all going to
work. So we can see that we’re getting
ready to go somewhere. All of this has
happened within a couple of years. So
we’ve handled this territory in what, a week and a half, a couple weeks? But for them it was a couple years. It is remarkable what happened in that space
of time because this complete change in identity and custom and ritual and
understanding has happened and the people have had a chance to kind of live
into this for a bit. It’s not like
they’ve been standing still. There has
been a lot going on. It took a while to
build all that stuff. It took a while to
ingrain all of these things into the fabric of this culture. So now they have battle formation. They have marching formation. They are ready to move out and we’ll be doing
that along with them soon.

In the book of Mark, Jesus’
confrontations happen with religious people which is the irony because he is
very kind and gracious and merciful to sinners, setting them free everywhere he
goes, everything he does practically.
But these Pharisees, religious leaders who travel around and watch him
and are just trying to figure him out and are confrontational toward him
because he is becoming more and more popular and has more sway, has more power,
they turn against him. They are trying
to trick him. They are trying to capture
him in something wrong.

He tells this story today and
it’s an antagonistic story, but it wasn’t necessarily antagonism that Jesus was
after. He was showing them what they
look like. He was actually offering them
the truth, a mirror, a chance to examine themselves. And he basically in parable form, in story
form recaps their history. He talks
about a king, which would be God, who buys this vineyard and sets it all up for
use, which would be the world. And then
he goes away and when harvest time comes he sends someone to collect his share. And that doesn’t go well. And he sends somebody else and that doesn’t
go well. And then he sends someone
else. We can see this as God sending the
prophets throughout the ages. And it
doesn’t go well. Some are beaten. Some are marginalized. Some are ignored. Some are killed until there is really one
left to send – his own son. And he sends
his own son and they decide, ‘Oh, this is the heir. If we kill this person, then the whole thing
will be ours.’ And they do.

So Jesus is giving them a glimpse
into their own soul, into their own predicament. And not just the religious leaders, but their
whole history. How it has gotten to
this. And they don’t listen. They want to do exactly like the story. They immediately want to take Jesus out of
commission, totally realizing that he is talking about them, but just not
comprehending the gravity of the truth that he is giving them.

We can do the same thing. We can read in the gospels these
confrontations with religious leaders and we can see their antagonism and we
have the benefit of seeing how wrong they were, but we hold those same kinds of
postures toward each other, toward God.
I mean, if we would stop and look back over our lives and the grandest
of our mistakes and look at them honestly, we would see God has been sending
counsel all along. He has been coming
for us all along. And we’ve just
ignored. So rather than just looking at
the Pharisees as these distasteful, antagonistic, jealous people who just do
not understand or get Jesus, may we look for those places in our own hearts
because we’ll find it there. And we
don’t want it there. But every time
we’re faced with an obstacle or a fear or a disruption of our control over
things, we see this stuff starting to bubble up. So may we follow in the footsteps of our
Savior and not in the footsteps of the Pharisees.

Prayer

Jesus, that really is one of the
reasons that we stay in this rhythm every day, to be informed and directed by
your word so that our hearts are refreshed and our minds and hearts are
reoriented to you. So, yeah, we realize
that we have been pharisaical in many ways.
A lot of times it has a religious connotation to it in the way we try to
formulate our boxes of theology, but it is beyond that. It is in every posture of heart where we move
toward jealousy and arrogance, or we move toward indifference, places that we
move that are not healthy, places that keep us out on the edge instead of
giving us margin in our lives. So we
invite you. We invite you into this.

Father, I thank you for these 12
years personally. I thank you for the
change that has been made in my own heart and life. And I thank you that we have been able to do
this together as a community for this long.
I pray your favor and blessing over many, many more years where we can
continue to shout as loud as we can around the world your word. Help us each, Lord, to be shouting it
continually by the very weight of our lives.
Come Jesus, we pray. In your name
we ask, amen.

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the
website. It’s where you find out what is
going on around here. The More Gathering
for Women is coming up and registration for that will be closing soon, so
deeply and definitely invite you, ladies, that are looking for the master reset
button. You’ll find that and more at the
More Gathering for Women. You can get
all the details at www.DailyAudioBible.com. Everything that you would want to know. So check that out.

If you want to partner with the
Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com. Thank you humbly, gratefully for all these
years together, for what we’ve been able to do together, and for what we will
continue to do in the future. Thank you
for your partnership. So the link is on
the home page. If you use the app, you
can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the
mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a
prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian.
I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hi beautiful family. This is Pastor Gene calling to pray together. Father, we love you this morning. Thank you for sacrificing your life to give
us new life. Father, we pray for Cory
who is struggling with his marriage. Father, we pray for the restoration of his
family. We pray for the restoration of
his relationship with his wife and his children. Please come and save, O God. Father, we pray for Joe the Protector. We love him.
It is good to hear his voice. We
pray that you will lift his spirit. We
pray that you will continue to do a mighty work in his marriage, Father. Father, we love our brother David from Kansas
and pray for his protection and strength, for his restoration of health and joy
because your joy is his strength.
Father, we thank you for our sister Jacqueline, Salvation is Mine. Father, we pray for her continued strength,
health and restoration of her body and spirit.
Father, we pray that her emotions will be subject to the counsel of God
and that every thought that rises itself against it will be defeated, in the
mighty name of Jesus. I pray that you
will help her to enter into your rest and trust that you are there regardless
of her feelings. I rebuke Satan’s lies
from my sister’s life and I pray for personal new friends that will be the
hands of Jesus for her, O God. Father, I
thank you for my sister Melisa from Alabama.
Happy belated birthday to my sister.
I just bless you for a beautiful lady with the cutest southern accent
and a wonderful heart. Bless my sister,
O Lord. And I pray with my sister Becky
from Orlando mourning the passing of baby Ian.
I pray for that little brother and the rest the family. Love you, my sister Becky. Father, we love our sister Sarah from Nebraska
and pray for blessings upon her life too.
We pray all these things in Jesus’ name.
Amen. Pastor Gene from Bradenton,
FL.

Hey DAB family. This is Byron out in Florida, Abiding in
Him. Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning
of the Lent season and at first I really didn’t think much of this. I didn’t grow up with the Christian calendar
as part of my religious tradition. Or seeing
what it can mean, I really didn’t know anything about it until I started listening
to the DAB and I heard Brian talking about it.
And even then for the first couple of years of listening I didn’t really
participate or pay much attention to it.
But then he began to explain the significance of the Christian calendar
and the rhythms there and I slowly started to embrace what was going on and
began to give up something for Lent. And
I found, just like he says, that whatever I gave up either didn’t come back or
when it came back it was different. It wasn’t
like it was before. It was better or a
different priority. And even now, this will
be my third year participating in this practice, I still don’t fully get
it. I still don’t fully understand this sort
of contemplating the cost of sin. I understand
it in my head, but I’m still not quite getting what this whole thing is
about. I guess I’m calling just to
explain my journey with it because it has just been something that has increased
over time and has gotten deeper and deeper over time, from just giving up
something to really starting to contemplate what my life is all about and allowing
him that period of time to just take things over. Funny enough, what I’m currently giving up for
Lent is going to bed at 10:00 each night, which for me is a huge deal because I
have a lot of things going on. It’s not
unusual for me to stay up past midnight on weeknights. So even though I have all these things going
on, I’m still giving that time. I really
don’t know what that means. I just felt
like that is what he wants me to do. So
maybe I’ll learn something new. But I just
wanted to encourage you. Even though it has
already started, it is not too late to ask God for something to be put on your heart
to be re-prioritized.

Hi DAB family. This is Sam calling from Vancouver, WA at my office
in Portland. Just calling in response to
a prayer request I heard on February 18th from Darrin in College
Station. Just want to let you know I hear
you, Darrin, and I’m praying for you and thinking of you. Praying that you feel God near. I appreciate the prayers that were also
prayed that day from men just dealing with anger and frustration and then to
also feeling closeness to God and those who are struggling with depression. All those really resonated with me and so I want
to thank you all for speaking those out and just being vulnerable. And thank you for all that you guys do and
are. I just ask for prayer support for my
work situation. I’m feeling a little
frustration and stress over some scheduling issues that my boss is frustrated with
in terms of me having to adjust my schedule for my family and some scheduling
my wife needs to have for her job as well.
We’re making lots of efforts to adjust and do things for each other and don’t
feel like she is being understanding. My
review is coming up next year so just lots of different things. I need prayer and wisdom on just how to
approach that in a healthy way that is just caring and healthy. From Sam, Sidney, Grace, Serena, and Judah,
appreciate your prayers and support. We
love you. God bless you.

Hi DAB family. This is Mimi in Atlanta. Just getting to work, but I just wanted to
let you know that I am praying, specifically lifting up all the requests that I’m
hearing as I listen in the evening before I go to sleep and God is able. He is big enough and he is weaving things so
intricately and detailed in your lives that you just won’t believe how he is
going to work out each case scenario as we all pray for each other. My request today is again Rick Y., father of
my son, grandfather of my grandchildren, called to ministry over 20 years ago
to preach and teach by God, and then almost a total of 20 years, maybe 15 years
total away from it. So the walls have been
erected back in the day, but God is bringing them down. I just pray that the Lord continues to do that
and I ask that you all pray for him as well because is the father that sons look
to and grandsons are going to be looking to.
So I just ask him for a miracle in Rick’s heart and life and that the Lord
calls him back for whatever service he has for him because he does, and I know
it to be true. So thank you so
much. I love you all. Can’t wait to go to the More Gathering. First time going and I am going with anticipation. So if anyone is sitting on a fence whether or
not they should go, I say yes, just do it.
Make a call and God will provide the finances and I’m praying for an
amazing time up in North Georgia. God
bless you all. Love you. Bye-bye.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is Christy, the English missionary
calling from the Philippines. I would like
to first give a praise report regarding Jerry.
He was the inmate who spent 22 years in jail for the duration of his trial. After his acquittal in December, he has since
been joining our prison ministry team, so that is wonderful. Every week he gets to go into the jails with us
and to share what the Lord has done in his life. So that is really great, a praise report, but
today I call for a prayer request for Ivan.
Ivan is one of the __________ children that we have in our children’s home
and he has Down syndrome and right now he is in need, great need of heart surgery. We were told it was going to be very
expensive, so we raised the money that they were asking, but only to find that when
we paid the money it just got him on the list.
So we found out he is #351 on the waiting list. So we’re really praying for a miracle for Ivan. So we would appreciate if our DAB family would
join us in this. Either that the Lord would
heal Ivan or for a miracle also to get him an earlier schedule. He loves the Lord and he totally trusts the Lord
completely, so we’re believing for his miracle.
So we would appreciate prayers for that.
Thank you all. Have a nice
day. God bless you. Bye now.